Police Officer Involved Domestic Violence.
Lighting a candle of remembrance for those who've lost their lives to domestic violence behind the blue wall, for strength and wisdom to those still there, and a non-ending prayer for those who thought they had escaped but can't stop being afraid.

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Friday, September 30, 2011

Erin was shot and killed by ex-boyfriend, Dodge City Kansas Police Officer Christopher "Chris" Tahah. He was sentenced to life in prison for murder, with no chance of parole for 20 years - but now......The Kansas Supreme Court ruled Friday that the jury should have been told to consider lesser offenses including second degree murder and involuntary manslaughter...

Before he had a chance to delete his Myspace page, it was screen-captured. His ominous message there on the day he killed Erin:

Click photo to see larger.(Tahah appears to have combined quotes from a video game and movie.)

FORMER COP GETS NEW TRIAL IN FATAL SHOOTING OF EX-GIRLFRIEND

KSNSeptember 30, 2011[Excerpts] A former Dodge City police officer will receive a new trial on charges that he shot and killed his ex-girlfriend. Christopher Tahah was convicted of felony murder, for the May 4, 2007 shooting death of Erin Jones. Tahah admitted he went to her home to kill her in a jealous rage but claims he reconsidered at the last minute before his rifle went off accidentally. The Kansas Supreme Court ruled Friday that the jury should have been told to consider lesser offenses including second degree murder and involuntary manslaughter... "That means even though the theory is felony murder, if there's evidence to suggest a lesser degree of homicide than the jury must consider that lesser crime," said KSN legal analyst Dan Monnat... [Full article here]

Erin's sister: "You didn't care that she was a daughter, you didn't care that she was a mother... You didn't care that she was a sister and a great friend. You only cared that she didn't want you, and you wanted to make sure no one else could have her."

Erin's father: "I want it to be known that we found out later that Erin was absolutely scared to death of Mr. Tahah. And when I found out she had died by his hand, it absolutely tore me apart."

KANSAS SUPREME COURT ORDERS NEW TRIAL IN 2007 HOMICIDE

Dodge City Daily GlobeSep 30, 2011[Excerpts] ...Christopher Tahah was convicted in 2008 of shooting and killing his former girlfriend, Erin Jones, the year before. The shooting followed a night of drinking by Tahah the night of the Greensburg tornado on May 4, 2007. But in a 6-1 decision, the state's highest court ordered a new trial... The ruling added instructions that would permit the jury to consider the lesser included offenses of second-degree reckless murder or involuntary manslaughter, based on Tahah's testimony that his rifle accidentally discharged while he had it pointed at Jones from her backyard... [Full article here]

NEW TRIAL ORDERED FOR DODGE CITY MAN CONVICTED OF 2007 MURDERKWCH 12 Eyewitness NewsBy Robert MarinSeptember 30, 2011[Excerpts] The Kansas Supreme Court orders a new trial for a former Dodge City Police Officer convicted of murder, saying jurors should have been allowed to consider lesser charges... In a dissenting opinion Justice Eric S. Rosen said there was "no evidence, when viewed in the light most favorable to Tahah, on which a reasonable jury could convict Tahah of either of the requested lesser included instructions beyond a reasonable doubt"... [Full article here]

[KS] Today fired Officer Tahah was convicted of murdering his ex, Erin - ... He said he drove out to the scenic overlook near the Dodge City Regional Airport to watch a lightning storm, fell asleep and didn't wake up until about 3:35 a.m. After waking, Tahah said he drove by Jones' house again and saw that her friend had left, so he went back to his apartment. The next day, he learned that Jones was dead. "How did you react?" said Tahah's attorney, Peter Orsi. "I was shocked," Tahah replied. "I broke down and started crying"...

Thursday, September 29, 2011

...[Former Yakama Tribal Police Officer] Anthony J. Hernandez, 28, was in uniform and on duty at the time of the Sept. 18, 2009, incident, resulting in his termination from the force and prosecution on charges of first-degree kidnapping, felony harassment and reckless endangerment....

I am leaving the intimate details out of these excerpts but the links to the articles are here.

TRIAL BEGINS FOR EX-TRIBAL POLICE OFFICERYakima Herald-RepublicBY CHRIS BRISTOLSeptember 27, 2011 AT 11:51PM[Excerpts] Trial got under way Tuesday in the case of a former Yakama tribal police officer accused of going into a jealous rage when he caught his estranged wife in bed with another man. Anthony J. Hernandez, 28, was in uniform and on duty at the time of the Sept. 18, 2009, incident, resulting in his termination from the force and prosecution on charges of first-degree kidnapping, felony harassment and reckless endangerment. In his opening statement, Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecutor Ken Ramm told a jury of seven men and seven women that testimony will show Hernandez was angry and misused his service weapon during the incident... Ramm told the jury that Hernandez and his wife, Miranda, had separated several months prior to the incident and were dating other people... But veteran defense attorney Adam Moore told the jury there are two sides to every story and that there was much more to the incident than the prosecution was willing to admit... In the meantime, Hernandez remains free on his own recognizance. Moore said his client is unemployed. The case has a number of similarities to the case of Sean Moore, a Yakima County sheriff's deputy who was convicted of attacking a woman and male friend last year while on duty and in uniform. Moore, no relation to the defense attorney, later committed suicide in jail... [Full article here]

OFFICER POUNDED, YELLED AT BEDROOM DOOR, WITNESS TESTIFIESYakima Herald-RepublicBY CHRIS BRISTOLBy Chris BristolThursday, September 29[Excerpts] The first day of testimony in the trial of former Yakama tribal police officer Anthony Hernandez got off to a surprise start Wednesday when it was revealed the man he caught in bed with his estranged wife is the stepson of the Zillah police chief. Steven Perez, 23, took the stand against Hernandez... Perez told the jury he was a 21-year-old college student and football player when the incident occurred... [Full article here][police officer involved domestic violence oidv intimate partner violence ipv abuse law enforcement public safety lethal terroristic threats washington state politics]

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Nasville Metro Police Officer Charlie Banks was arrested and charged with felony aggravated assault after allegedly pushing, strangling her and hitting his girlfriend in the face. Her dog, a mastiff, bit him and he had to be hospitalized for the bite almost a week. Good dog. And I've noticed lately that Nashville PD doesn't play - Banks has been decommissioned. He's also under administrative investigation by the Nashville Police Department's Office of Professional Accountability. I'm hoping the victim is getting to higher ground and connecting with folks who can help her.[police officer involved domestic violence oidv intimate partner violence ipv abuse law enforcement public safety lethal tennessee state politics]

...The county coroner said Reynolds' husband and his sons have indicated they'll refuse to testify. "They'll take the Fifth Amendment... It means, 'I refuse to testify on the grounds it may tend to incriminate me"...

TROOPER'S HUSBAND AND HIS SONS TO PLEAD THE FIFTH AT INQUEST
komonews.com
By Luke Duecy
Published: Sep 16, 2011
Last Updated: Sep 17, 2011
[Excerpts] The long-awaited inquest into the 1998 shooting death of former state trooper Ronda Reynolds will soon get under way, but it may not bring closure to her mother. Reynolds' husband and his three sons are trying to avoid testifying in the controversial case... People still wonder how her body ended up on the floor of a closet in the master bedroom in Reynolds' home with a gunshot wound to her head. On Friday, Lewis County Coroner Warren McCleod formally announced he'll hold an inquest to figure out, once and for all, whether Reynolds' death was suicide or murder. "What I hope to accomplish is a final resolution in this 13-year-old case," he said. "The jury is going to say, 'This who it was, where it happened, when it happened, how it happened and this is what we believe is the manner of the death."' In 1998, the county's then-coroner ruled Reynolds' death a suicide. In 2008, a KOMO News investigation uncovered new evidence and expert opinions that called that ruling into question. Reynolds' mother Barb Thompson sued to clear her daughter's name, and a jury unanimously found Reynolds did not kill herself. Thompson hoped the inquest might finally bring closure; however, on Friday, she found out it might not. The county coroner said Reynolds' husband and his sons have indicated they'll refuse to testify. "They'll take the Fifth Amendment," Thompson said. "It means, 'I refuse to testify on the grounds it may tend to incriminate me."'... [Full article here]

48 HOURS: Mystery on Twin Peaks Drive - The Murder of Ronda Reynolds

'I WANTED THE TRUTH, REGARDLESS OF WHAT THAT WAS'KOMO
By Tracy Vedder
Published: Oct 20, 2011
For the first time since her daughter's death 13 years ago, Barb Thompson is a woman with peace in her soul. An inquest jury on Wednesday ruled her daughter Ronda Reynolds' manner of death was homicide and not suicide as initially determined. The jury ruled Reynold's husband, Ron Reynolds, and stepson, Jonathan Reynolds, are responsible for her death. The coroner said he would issue arrest warrants for the two men, and a charging decision is expected Friday. Much of the evidence that convinced the coroner's jury was the result of nearly 13 years of persistent digging by Thompson. "No regrets," she said. For years, Thompson has said she has been searching for just one thing: "I wanted the truth, regardless of what that was"... [Full article here]

Barbara when Ronda's death was ruled a homicide

JURY: REYNOLDS' HUSBAND, STEPSON RESPONSIBLE FOR HER DEATH
By KOMO Staff
Oct 19, 2011
[Excerpts] The jury in the inquest into the death of former state trooper Ronda Reynolds has reached a verdict... "This is overwhelming," Ronda Reynolds' mother Barb Thompson said amid tears after the verdict was read. "I always said I had faith in our judicial system, and they didn't prove me wrong again." As a result of the decision, Lewis County Coroner Warren McLeod was planning to issue an arrest warrant in the case. But the unprecedented nature of the verdict left a key question lingering: Will the men even be criminally charged? The verdict drew gasps in a small Chehalis courtroom... Reynolds' death was originally ruled a suicide, but the Lewis County coroner launched a new investigation following a KOMO News investigation... Ron Reynolds and Jonathan Reynolds both refused to testify during the inquest, as did Ron Reynolds' two other sons. [Full article here]

What Barbara said she would say to Ronda, "I hope you're proud of me. We did it." Barbara also gives the credit to the media for lifting the case into the public view.

ARREST WARRANTS IN TROOPER'S DEATH SUSPENDED OVER 'LEGAL ISSUE'
By KOMO
Oct 21, 2011
[Excerpts] An unexpected legal issue has disrupted the issuing of arrest warrants after a coroner's inquest jury ruled this week that the 1998 death of former state trooper Ronda Reynolds was a homicide. And in another surprise twist, Lewis County Coroner Warren McLeod said in a statement Friday that the inquest into Reynolds' death will be reopened... that he has "temporarily suspended the process regarding the arrest warrants required by the verdict in the coroner inquest into the death of Ronda Reynolds... This temporary suspension is to allow for the investigation and resolution of a legal issue that has come to light," McLeod said in his statement. "No further details can be provided at this time but a complete public disclosure will be made when the coroner inquest is reconvened"... [Full article here]

RONDA REYNOLDS’ HUSBAND, SON TO SPEAK ABOUT 1998 TOLEDO DEATH ON NATIONAL TELEVISION
Lewis County Sirens
By Sharyn L. Decker
Tuesday, April 17, 2012 at 9:01 am
[Excerpts] The first journalist to conduct a one on one interview with Toledo Elementary School Principal Ron Reynolds about the controversial 1998 death of his wife in Toledo says he was left thinking it was a mistake Reynolds chose to remain mum during last October’s coroner’s inquest. Reynolds and his son Jonathan answered every question and told a very convincing story about what they say was the suicide of former trooper Ronda Reynolds, Peter Van Sant said yesterday... Van Sant spoke yesterday from his office in New York, in advance of this weekend’s airing of 48 Hours Mystery, featuring the Lewis County case that is now ruled a homicide. Ronda Reynolds, 33, died with a bullet in her head in the home she shared with husband of less than a year, Ron Reynolds and his sons. She was found dead on the floor of a small walk-in closet, covered up by a turned-on electric blanket the morning of Dec. 16, 1998. Her death was labeled by then-Coroner Terry Wilson and the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office as a suicide, but her unconvinced mother Barbara Thompson battled for more than a decade for a more thorough investigation of what she believed was more likely murder... Ron Reynolds, on the advice of attorneys, avoided testifying not only at the inquest, but at the 2009 judicial review in Chehalis... “I thought it was interesting at the end of the day, Barb Thompson was not upset that these men were not prosecuted,” he said... Among their interviewees is Ann Rule, author from Seattle who published a book on the case... [Full article here]

RONDA REYNOLDS
(From realcrimes.com)
By Barbara ThompsonMy daughter, Ronda Reynolds, 33, was discovered dead of a gunshot wound to her head, in Toledo, Washington, on December 16, 1998. She died on the floor of her master bedroom walk-in closet, following a heated argument with her husband. The scene was contaminated by the Lewis County Sheriff’s Department before the lead detective, Jerry Berry, ever got there. Several months later, as Detective Berry was in the process of pursuing answers to a long list of inconsistencies, Ronda’s husband hired an attorney, who threatened to sue the sheriff’s office for not following proper procedures. Sheriff John McCroskey responded by closing the case as a suicide one week later, using as justification a falsified report by his detective, Sgt. Glade Austin. Detective Berry – an honest and courageous investigator – refused to dismiss the case as suicide. On Jan.1, 2001, Berry was “transferred” (demoted) to deputy, put back on road duty, and instructed to leave the case alone. In June, 2001, following months of harassment and trumped-up reprimands because he refused to go along with the cover-up, Berry quit the department. Berry says this was far from the first time the sheriff’s department arbitrarily closed a suspicious death as a suicide... I could get on with my life if Ronda had been killed in an accident. I could even have accepted suicide, if it truly was suicide. But having to deal every day with a police cover-up – reading and rereading the case file, finding investigative mistakes and reading the blatant lies that have been manufactured to conceal those blunders, keeps the wound of my loss open with no chance of healing. To live without closure is unbearable... [MORE][police officer involved domestic violence oidv intimate partner violence ipv abuse law enforcement public safety lethal fatality fatalities murder state politics alleged said suicide][police officer involved domestic violence oidv intimate partner violence ipv abuse law enforcement public safety lethal fatality fatalities murder alleged-suicide washington state patrol politics unsolved unresolved]

Monday, September 26, 2011

A shift commander with the Clark County Sheriff’s Department returned to work Monday after the domestic battery case against him wasput on hold... Shelton’s wife signed an affidavit earlier this month asking the court to dismiss the protective order issued against her husband. Shelton filed for divorce following his arrest...

CLARK COUNTY SHERIFF’S DEPARTMENT COMMANDER REINSTATED: Clark County prosecutor takes domestic battery case under advisementNews and TribuneBy Matt ThackerSeptember 26, 2011[Excerpts] A shift commander with the Clark County Sheriff’s Department returned to work Monday after the domestic battery case against him was put on hold. Lt. Col. John Shelton, 57, of Charlestown, was reinstated to his previous position, Sheriff Danny Rodden said. Shelton had been serving a paid suspension since he was arrested July 31 for domestic battery against his wife. Following a pretrial conference in Superior Court No. 3 on Wednesday, the Clark County Prosecutor’s Office decided to take the case under advisement for six months. Following that time period, the state may decide to proceed with the case or dismiss the charges... According to the report, Shelton’s wife asked her husband to take off her shoes so she could wear them. He agreed to change shoes, and they started walking up the stairs to the house. He allegedly turned and struck his wife in the arm with a closed fist which caused her to lose her footing and fall into her friend’s arms. Shelton then locked the door... Shelton’s wife signed an affidavit earlier this month asking the court to dismiss the protective order issued against her husband. Shelton filed for divorce following his arrest... [Full article here][police officer involved domestic violence oidv intimate partner violence ipv abuse law enforcement public safety brass preferential noncooperative noncooperaton uncooperative recant recanted indiana state politics teflon]

On Monday, September 19, Barbara Sheehan took the stand in her own defense against a charge of second-degree murder. On February 18, 2008, her husband, retired NYPD crime scene Sgt. Raymond Sheehan lay dead of gunshot wounds in the couple’s Howard Beach home. Barbara, on her knees with two guns in hand, immediately admitted she had shot him.

For three days, I sat in a Queens criminal courtroom as Barbara Sheehan told a jury the story of her twenty-four year marriage and the violence that led up to the shooting. Here in a nutshell is that story.

The Early Days

The real violence in the relationship started within a few years of their marrage with the birth of their second child, a son also named Raymond. Barbara’s husband Raymond worked nights, and was home with the children during the hours Barbara worked. "He would call me constantly at work," Barbara testified. "Come home, the baby’s diaper needs to be changed. Come put the barrette in Jennifer’s hair." Each call was angrier than the one before, each time he was more demanding, until finally Barbara would leave work and go home.

There the pushing and shoving would start. Barbara would cry; Raymond would apologize, send flowers, promise not to do it again; the promise was never kept. In addition to the violence the verbal abuse was soul-killing. He harangued her constantly; called her stupid and fat, a horrible mother and housekeeper, worthless as a person. He blamed her for everything – the traffic ("If you’d been ready we’d have left sooner and would have missed this"); his drinking ("If you’d sat next to me I wouldn’t have drunk so much); everything was Barbara’s fault.

Things went on like this for years. The only thing that changed is that at some point he stopped apologizing. The violence escalated, now occurring two or three times a week and increasingly severe. He started to knock her down and then step on her or spit in her face; he’d trip her, calling her clumsy; then he began to choke. At first he hit her on her back and upper arms – places that wouldn’t show – but eventually he didn’t care anymore. He’d punch her in the face, in the arms, blacken her eyes.

A Painful Litany of Violence & Degradation

Barbara Sheehan’s days on the witness stand were a litany of monstrous violence – violence that was clearly building to a crescendo. Among the specific incidents she detailed were these:

•In the summer of 1994, Raymond came home from his brother’s bachelor’s party "too drunk to walk" and angry. That night he beat her so badly he broke her eardrum. By the next morning she was black and blue from head to toe and had two black eyes.

•By the mid-1990s Barbara wasn’t allowed to go anywhere alone. Raymond would track her constantly, track her down wherever she was. When she’d return from the grocery store he would demand to see the receipt so he could see what time she‘d checked out. If he thought she had taken too long getting home he’d start screaming and hitting her.

•His last four years on the police force Raymond work as a sergeant in the crime scene unit. By this time his threats to kill were relentless – first he would kill her, then the children and then he would "go out in glory." He’d bring home pictures of dead bodies at crime scenes saying, "That’s what you’ll look like if you ever try to leave me." He always said he could pull off the perfect crime because, with his crime scene training, he knew exactly how to do it.

•In 1999, on returning from their 10 year-old son’s baseball game, Raymond was screaming and rageful, berating his son because he hadn’t played well enough. "I told him not to talk to our son like that," Barbara said. In response Raymond took a pot of simmering pasta sauce off the stove and threw it at her, scalding her arms and torso. Then he pushed her to the floor into the steaming sauce, yelling , "Clean it up!" and "Don’t you ever tell me how to treat my son!"

•In 2002 the family went to Lake George on vacation. Raymond had gotten drunk and fallen asleep at the pool. Barbara woke him in time to get ready for dinner. When they returned to their room Raymond chased her around the room in a rage. After their daughter Jennifer ran out of the room in terror, Raymond beat Barbara to a pulp, leaving her with two black eyes.

•Later that year Raymond retired from the NYPD. But still he carried at least two guns with him at all times – even at home – one at his waist and one in an ankle-holster. When he watched TV a gun would rest on the coffee table. Even when he was in the shower, a gun lay always within reach. By this time the threats to kill were constant.

•In August 2007 Raymond and Barbara went on vacation to Jamaica with their son and another family. They were all going together to a VIP dinner that evening. After Barbara got ready for dinner, she woke Raymond, knowing it always took him an hour or two to shower. She went downstairs to tell everyone to go on and they’d meet them at the dinner. When she got back upstairs Raymond was still sleeping. She woke him again, and he went into a rage.

"I said I would just go on without him. He chased me down before I could reach the door. He beat me, grabbed me by the hair and beat my face against the cinder-block walls again and again – all over room, from one wall to another. I had a big gash on my head – there was blood everywhere."

When the couple went to the hotel desk for directions to a hospital, Raymond wouldn’t let Barbara talk. He said she had fallen in the shower and hit her head on sink. They went into the restaurant to tell the others where they were going. Barbara’s head was wrapped in a bloody towel.

"This incident really scared me because now he abused me in front of everyone – he didn’t care anymore if people knew what was happening," Barbara testified. "That made me realize how dangerous he was – that he really had no regard for me or my safety." From that point on, she knew anything could happen.

In December 2007, Barbara threw a family party for their son’s 18th birthday. The whole family was there – Barbara’s parents and siblings as well as Raymond’s brother Vincent and wife Linda. The men were watching a ball game when Raymond, drunk as usual, called Barbara’s father a "dick" and a "fucking c---." When Barbara’s brother defended their dad, he and Raymond got into a screaming argument. Raymond stormed out in a rage. When he returned later, he ran at Barbara screaming and out of control. Linda told him not to do that "in front of us."

After that Barbara was all the more terrified. Now Raymond didn’t care who saw what he was doing, even her family. After that night Raymond demanded she cut off communication with her family, a tight-knit clan most of whom lived within a few blocks of each other. The shroud of isolation was drawing tighter.

That night, Linda gave Barbara the phone number for a domestic violence hotline. They told her she was in the most dangerous position possible – because he was a cop and because the violence had spiraled out of control. Barbara started making plans to get away – saving money for her escape, telling officials at her work what was going on. She knew time was running out.

...[United States Border Patrol officer] Alejandro Acevedo broke the second floor bedroom window to speak to Eagle Pass Police Officers arriving at the scene... The City of Eagle Pass Police Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, (FBI), the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and the United States Border Patrol are investigating the incident...

The children huddled, hding in the closet were safe and returned to their mother who was at work when the 35 bullets flew in her house.

BORDER AGENT KILLED IN DOMESTIC DISPUTE: Alejandro Acevedo Died From Injuries At HospitalKSATPOSTED: Monday, September 19, 2011EAGLE PASS, Texas -- An off-duty Border Patrol agent and a house guest were fatally wounded when a dispute between the two erupted in gunfire. Eagle Pass police said a family fight led to the violent struggle between 26 year-old Omar Olivarez and his cousin, 29-year-old Border Patrol agent Alejandro Acevedo. Around 3:15 p.m. Monday, police showed up to an apartment complex on a domestic violence call. When they got there, they saw Acevedo stumble out of the apartment, holding a gun, badly injured. Acevedo was taken to the hospital in critical condition and died hours later... Olivarez was found inside a bathroom at the apartments and pronounced dead at the scene... [Full article here]

BORDER PATROL AGENT KILLED IN DOMESTIC FIGHTSan Antonio ExpresBy John MacCormackSeptember 19, 2011[Excerpts] An off-duty U.S. Border Patrol agent and a second man died after a domestic dispute Monday afternoon... Alejandro Acevedo, 29, died late Monday of multiple bullet wounds after undergoing surgery at Fort Duncan Medical Center . “The Border Patrol agent didn't make it. He went into cardiac arrest and expired,” said Eagle Pass Police Chief Antonio Castaneda... Omar Olivares, 28, a cousin to Acevedo's wife, had died earlier, before receiving medical attention. The chief said the shooting arose from friction having to do with Olivares staying with the couple. “I guess he overstayed his welcome and they started shooting it out,” he said. Police estimate at least three dozen bullets were fired in the conflict... “We found two of his children hidden in a closet. The older child and his wife were away,” said the chief. When police responded to the apartment, the gunfight was still raging inside, and the door was locked. Eventually, a badly wounded Acevedo opened the apartment, allowing police to enter... [Full article here]

OFF-DUTY FEDERAL AGENT KILLED IN DOMESTIC DISPUTE?ABC13.comMonday, September 19, 2011[Excerpts] An off-duty Border Patrol agent and a house guest were fatally wounded when a dispute between the two erupted in gunfire... Castaneda says tension had been growing between Olivares and his 29-year-old host over the length of the guest's stay. The chief says officers found two of Acevedo's children hiding in a closet, uninjured. Acevedo's wife and eldest child were not home. [Full article here]

U.S. BORDER PATROLMAN AND FAMILY MEMBER BOTH DEAD AFTER FAMILY DISPUTE ESCALATES INTO GUNFIREEagle Pass Business JournalMultiple gunshots broke the quiet silence of a peaceful and sunny afternoon at the Aztec Apartments in Eagle Pass causing neighbors and passers-by to seek shelter from the barrage of gunfire emanating from inside 880 Bibb Avenue, and in the end resulting in the deaths of two men... Eagle Pass Police Chief Juan Antonio Castañeda in an interview with the Eagle Pass Business Journal announced that United States Border Patrolman, Alejandro Acevedo, and a cousin of his wife living with the couple, Omar Olivares, had a heated dispute on Monday, September 19, 2011, at approximately 2:55 P.M. at the Acevedo’s apartment located at 880 Bibb Avenue in Eagle Pass which escalated into gunfire... Castañeda added that Alejandro Acevedo broke the second floor bedroom window to speak to Eagle Pass Police Officers arriving at the scene and told them to send help inside the apartment because there was a man shooting at him while attempting to protect his children from being harmed. Castañeda stated Alejandro Acevedo was able to get out of the second floor bedroom and opened the front door walking several steps outside the apartment before collapsing from multiple gunshot wounds... Shortly thereafter, the Eagle Pass Police SWAT Team entered the apartment with a bullet-proof shield and proceeded to the second floor where they found the body of Omar Olivares inside the bathroom with multiple gunshot wounds, too... The two Acevedo minor children miraculously were not hit by any of the more than 35 rounds of gunshot shells found inside the apartment, and were returned to their mother, who was at work during the tragic incident... The City of Eagle Pass Police Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, (FBI), the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and the United States Border Patrol are investigating the incident... [Full article here]

...I could always hear the arguments on a daily basis. I can say that several times the arguing would lead into the parkinglot outside. Leading into pushing had shoving. It was only a matter of time before it exploded into what happened today...

...The cousin was living there because the BP's wife asked him to move down from El Paso. She wanted family around. The cousin was a stand up guy and worked at Lowes. No drugs were involved...

...the bp was talking to his cousin that he needed to change his bad habits he was tring to help him...

...The Name OMAR OLIVARES and he was from EL Paso Tx, and he was not a sancho . He was the cousin of the wife of the BP officer. And He was Not the cause of the family problems ,he was there to help his cousin with the Kids,The problems were already there with the husband and wife ,and like anyone he would defend his cousin.He should had come back to El Paso.But instead he came back home in a coffin His funeral was on Saturday 09/24/2011 and will be cremated. R.I.P Omar

Sunday, September 25, 2011

PREVIOUS POST:[MA] Massachusetts State Trooper Derrick Costa charged with domestic assault and battery this time. - Massachusetts State Trooper Derrick Costa’s arrest on a charge of domestic assault and battery revealed for the first time that he has also been suspended without pay since June 24 because of allegations of drug dealing, larceny, forgery and witness intimidation...... he told them that his wife initiated the physical altercation and that he only touched her... Officers described finding the wife with a red, swollen bruise under her eye and a series of older bruises and abrasions on her arms and legs. The police report states that the wife told officers that Costa had been violent with her in the past...

SUSPENDED STATE TROOPER FROM RAYNHAM POSTS BAIL AFTER ARRAIGNMENT: Derrick A. Costa arraigned on 24 chargesEnterprise NewsBy Vicki-Ann DowningPosted Sep 17, 2011 @ 06:00 AM[Excerpts] Suspended state trooper Derrick A. Costa posted $5,000 bail following his arraignment Friday in Fall River Superior Court on charges of drug dealing, forgery, witness intimidation and assault. Costa, 40, was ordered to report to the Probation Department once a week and to have no contact with his wife, whom he is accused of assaulting. His case was continued to Oct. 24... osta was also arrested Aug. 4 after his wife alleged he hit her in the face and back of the head during an argument at their home in Raynham. At the time of that arrest, Costa had been scheduled to leave for a 30-day drug treatment program... Costa has been a state trooper for 15 years...[Police officer involved domestic violence oidv intimate partner violence ipv abuse law enforcement public safety repeat hx massachusetts state politics]

Saturday, September 24, 2011

A murder trial in New York City is bringing attention to violence within police families. This week Barbara Sheehan will take the stand in her 2nd degree murder trial. The testimony of her and her children will be the basis of a self-defense claim in the shooting death of her husband, retired NYPD police Sergeant Raymond Sheehan. Noelle Hanrahan [NMH] reports from the Queens Supreme Court.

NMH: In the mid 1970’s three high profile cases of women who killed their attackers in self-defense galvanized feminists and lawyers to demand that the law acknowledge evidence of abuse. Yvonne Wanrow Swan, a Native American from Washington State, killed a man accused of molesting her son, Joanne little, an African American woman stabbed her prison guard attacker in North Carolina, and Inez Garcia shot her rapist in Soledad California. Before this domestic violence and sexual assault were often not treated as a crime under state or federal law.But these historic cases expanded the law to acknowledge self-defense and women’s rights.

Many are now watching Barbara Sheehan’s case, which could expose a hidden epidemic: Police officers who batter their wives. It is not just about Sheehan’s case. If cops are not held accountable for intimate partner violence, what happens when they respond to domestic violence calls, which are the largest percentage of calls to police, according to the Justice Department.

Dottie Davis is Deputy Police Chief in Fort Wayne Indiana.

We know that that sixteen to 19 percent of the general population are batters. And police officers come from the general population at large we are not special. There is nothing to say that we are less likely to be involved in domestic violence. If anything think about it a law enforcement officer has a lot of power and so wouldn’t a batter be attracted to that profession. I believe the answer is yes.

NMH: Another problem according to Deputy Chief Davis is that, domestic violence by police officers is rarely reported.

Generally it is about less than one percent of an agency is every reported and it is not because there aren’t victims out there it is because victims know that they are not going to get any help when they go to the agency to report.

NMH: Barbara Sheehan’s case embodies all of these issues. In February of 2008, she shot and killed her husband of 24 years. The defense argues it followed nearly two decades of physical and verbal abuse, including death threats. The DA says that Barbara Sheehan executed her husband.

NMH: Barbara Sheehan

It was self-defense he came after me with his gun. My husband was a sergeant actually with the New York City Police Department and he had his weapons and he used his weapons to threaten us me and my children.

NMH: Sheehan says others can learn from her case.

It is important people need to know warning signs and when to get out of a situation early enough before something tragic actually happens.

These women are literally fighting for their lives. It is either they live or die. At the time my client shot her husband he was threatening her with a gun and threatening to kill her. How can a jury put themselves in the place of Barbara Sheehan unless they know what she went through

NMH: The voices of survivors of police abuse are rarely heard, and Sheehan’s trial will not include these types of witnesses. But some are trying to get their stories out including Jill Burrella. She endured years of bloody fights, broken bones, even being held hostage at gun point. Her husband’s police department took away his duty issued gun. But after dozens of calls to police and a permanent restraining order, her husband George continued to work in the Philadelphia Police department.

“He would break the phone. He would not let the kids call in the past either. You know. So of course he slammed down the phone. Broke the kitchen phone. It was only our eight hundredth phone he loved breaking phones. Chased me I did not get far. You know. I got to the end of our sidewalk in front of our house. And he drug me back in the house threw me down right on the inside of the door in the foyer and shot me. Yeah my lung collapsed, I guess just because it doesn’t like a hot searing bullet going through it. And I remember him just standing in the doorway staring at me after he shot me. And uhm I was wearing a sweater it was January. And I remember it was a light color and I remember it was getting heavy and I looked down and it was filling up with my blood.

In a rare case of police accountability, Marcela Espino testified against her ex-husband San Francisco Police officer William Taylor. Prior to raping her, Taylor had gotten a slap on the wrist, a 90 day suspension without pay, and no formal charges filed for a rape attempt against a female officer in her patrol car. When the DA filed charges for the second sexual assault he was convicted and sent to prison.

“The I thought ok why am I here. And I would always say that. A say why am I here Marcela. To tell him that he will not do it again one more time. No one more time. That I will not be kept silent. That that is enough. And that this is my voice.”

The second degree murder trial of Barbara Sheehan in Queens is being closely watched by legal scholars and domestic violence survivors and their advocates across the country. This case brings the issue of law enforcement officers who perpetrate intimate partner violence to national attention.

NMH: The Queens District Attorney’s office refused to comment for this story.

A conviction for Sheehan could mean twenty five years to life in prison. But she said she’s not willing to take a plea deal. “I spent 24 years in hell,” Sheehan told FSRN before the trial began, " I am not going to give that man one more year of my life”.

...The sheriff's office has clamped a virtual news blackout on the case, with Sheriff Jim Berrong declining to answer questions about it and no details being provided beyond a news release the agency has issued... The Blount County Sheriff's Office on Wednesday said it will not release an incident report surrounding the homicide arrest... Officials have cited a 31-year-old state attorney general's opinion as the basis for not releasing the incident report on the killing...

I hadn't posted about Jennifer's death yet because I was waiting and hoping for something more personal - anything at all to be said about Jennifer besides descriptions of the crime scene. I was hoping a reporter would post an article about what she was like, how much her family loves her, or something that acknowledged that she was more than a victim of murder, something that recognized that a real woman was stolen from her own life. Today I found Jennifer's death notice.

JENNIFER LEE CUNNINGHAM BREWERJuly 30, 1982 – September 08, 2011Jennifer Lee Cunningham Brewer, age 29 was born July 30, 1982 in Atlanta, Georgia. She then moved with her family to Claxton, Tennessee in 1986. Jennifer grew up loving horses, spending time on the lake and camping with her family... In 2007, Jennifer was blessed with a daughter... Jennifer is survived by her daughter... step-daughters... her parents... brother... nephew... grandfather... and many aunts, uncles and cousins from across the country... [Full obituary here]

Stryker760 writes:Why the news blackout in this case and not others? A “pending investigate” can’t be the reason as I’ve read about other cases while they were being investigated.This is very strange, indeed.

asdf writes:'News blackout'= cop speak for: If the press gets a hold on his cop record they will find a pattern of behavior that will not reflect well on the departments that employed him.

While Danny Brewer served as a Rockford police officer he caused a crash with his police vehicle that killed a woman, Jennifer Bean. The resultnig $5M lawsuit against the Blount County Sheriff's Department and the Rockford Police Department was settled, and Danny Brewer went BACK to being Blount County Sheriff's deputy. The records are sealed on the crash incident too. Why he is no LONGER a Blount County Sheriff's deputy hasn't been addressed in any articles I've read.

SLAYING SUSPECT BREWER GETS PUBLIC DEFENDERthedailytimes.comBy Iva Butler2011-09-23 2011[Excerpts] A former Blount County law enforcement officer appeared in court Friday on criminal homicide charges involving the death of his wife. Danny Ray Brewer, 37, was appointed a public defender, attorney Mack Garner, to represent him. Blount County Assistant District Attorney General Shari Tayloe will be the prosecuting attorney... Blount deputies answered a call of a shooting at 11:19 a.m. on Sept. 8 to an apartment complex on Sevier Avenue. There they found a naked Brewer screaming and covered in blood in his apartment, according to the police report. He was escorted from the room and the gun believed to have been used in the shooting was recovered. They found his wife, Jennifer L. Brewer... [Full article here]

BLOUNT COUNTY PUBLIC DEFENDER APPOINTED TO REPRESENT FORMER DEPUTYknoxnews.comBy Robert WilsonSeptember 23, 2011[Excerpts] The Blount County Public Defender's Office was appointed today to represent a former law-enforcement officer accused of shooting his wife to death earlier this month. Danny Ray Brewer, 37, appeared this morning before General Sessions Judge Michael Gallegos, who assigned the defender's office to represent Brewer and set another hearing for Sept. 30 to determine how the case will proceed. Brewer is accused of shooting his wife, Jennifer Brewer, 29, at their Sevier Avenue apartment Sept. 8. Jennifer Brewer was taken to Blount Memorial Hospital where she died. Danny Brewer was arrested at the scene... Brewer is a former deputy with the Blount County Sheriff's Office, having served separate two-year stints separated by a three-month period when he was an officer with the Rockford Police Department. It was during Brewer's Rockford employment that he was involved in a collision with a vehicle driven by a Blount County woman in which the woman was killed... The sheriff's office has clamped a virtual news blackout on the case, with Sheriff Jim Berrong declining to answer questions about it and no details being provided beyond a news release the agency has issued. Officials have cited a 31-year-old state attorney general's opinion as the basis for not releasing the incident report on the killing... However, another court document obtained by the News Sentinel indicates Jennifer Brewer died as a result of a shotgun blast to her chest. [Full article here]

THE DAY BEFORE...

BLOUNT AUTHORITIES DECLINE TO RELEASE REPORT, CITING HOMICIDE INVESTIGATIONknoxnews.comBy Natalie Neysa AlundThursday, September 22, 2011[Excerpts] The Blount County Sheriff's Office on Wednesday said it will not release an incident report surrounding the homicide arrest of a former officer because there's an active investigation. Danny Ray Brewer, 37, was arrested Sept. 8 after his wife Jennifer Brewer, 29, was found shot in Brewer's Sevier Avenue apartment... On Sept. 11, The Daily Times newspaper in Maryville attributed additional details about the arrest to a Sheriff's Office report. When asked how that report was obtained, Sheriff's public information officer Marian O'Briant responded: "They probably saw the report when it was erroneously put in the stack with the other reports from that day. That was an error, and should not have happened." O'Briant said Blount County Attorney Craig Garrett had advised the Sheriff's Office not to release the report, citing a state attorney general's opinion from October 1980 which they argue states the report is not a public record. Frank Gibson, executive director of the Tennessee Coalition for Open Government, said Wednesday that opinion is nonbinding. "The use of that decision is abused regularly by law enforcement," Gibson said. "That case is about investigative records and investigative files and no one can claim that the incident report of a crime is part of any investigative file. He said the opinion is meant to protect records such as witness statements that are a product of an investigative record in a criminal case... An arrest warrant obtained Wednesday from Blount County General Sessions Court shows Brewer's wife died as a result of a shotgun blast to the chest... [Full article here]

A FEW DAYS EARLIER...

BLOUNT HOMICIDE DEFENDANT'S HEARING PUT OFF FOR MEDICAL REASONSknoxnews.comBy Natalie Neysa AlundMonday, September 19, 2011[Excerpts] A court hearing Monday for a former Blount County corporal accused of fatally shooting his wife was postponed because he has an undisclosed medical issue. Danny Ray Brewer, 37, did not appear in a Blount County courtroom for his scheduled preliminary hearing on the homicide charge, and the prosecutor handling his case would not divulge his status. Regardless, at the request of Assistant District Attorney General Clinton Frazier, General Sessions Judge Michael A. Gallegos rescheduled Brewer's hearing to Friday. When asked what the medical issue was, Frazier declined to elaborate. He also did not say if Brewer remained incarcerated... Brewer served two separate stints with the Sheriff's Office as well as time on the former Rockford Police Department. He was hired by the Sheriff's Office in July 1998, then resigned from there in April 2000. In May 2000, Brewer took a job with Rockford, but resigned in August of 2000 to return to work for the Sheriffs's Office. He resigned in 2002. While serving as a Rockford officer, Brewer was involved in a crash that killed a 29-year-old Blount County woman... Brewer was temporarily placed on administrative leave. The fatal crash resulted in a $5 million lawsuit... [Full article here][police officer involved domestic violence oidv intimate partner violence ipv abuse law enforcement public safety lethal fatality fatalities murder tennessee state politics]

The man was identified as Jeremy A. Hester, 31, a former Metro Division officer with the police department... Ms. [Erin Marie] Cobb was hospitalized in stable/critical condition this morning, after surgery... It's unclear whether he still works in law enforcement...

(9/28/11 UPDATE: See very loving 4th comment below this post. Excerpts - 9/27/11 "Jeremy Hester 31 years of age passed away 3:46pm today... Please pray for his dad... Please pray for his ex wife and children. The family left behind with so many questions not answered...")

FORMER CMPD OFFICER SUSPECTED OF DOUBLE SHOOTING IN DAVIDSON AREA
NewsChannel 36 Staff
by AMY COWMAN
September 24, 2011 at 9:48 AM
[Excerpts] Charlotte-Mecklenburg police have confirmed a former CMPD officer is the suspect in a domestic double shooting in Davidson. Davidson police said they found Jeremy Hester and his ex-wife Erin Cobb lying in the front yard of a home on Callaway Hills Lane just after 2:00 a.m Saturday. Witnesses told police Hester drove to Cobb's house, where they got into an argument. Police said Hester shot his ex-wife in the neck and then shot himself in the head.... Police said Hester was hired in 2007 and worked patrol in the Metro Division. He resigned in March of 2010. [Full article here]

MAN, WOMAN SHOT IN OVERNIGHT DOMESTIC VIOLENCE INCIDENT
wbtv.com
By Kristin Cronenberger
Sep 24, 2011
[Excerpts] ...Neighbors say 31 year old Jeremy Hester drove to his ex wife's house, the two got into an argument, then shots were fired. Investigators say Hester shot his ex wife, 28 year old Erin Cobb in the neck before shooting himself in the head. Both are still alive this morning at Carolinas Medical Center Main. According to CMPD officers, Hester is a former Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Officer who resigned from the department in March 2010... [Full article here]

POLICE: FORMER CMPD OFFICER SHOOTS EX, THEN HIMSELF
The Charlotte Observer
By Meghan Cooke
Saturday, Sep. 24, 2011
[Excerpts] A former Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officer and his ex-wife are in critical condition Saturday morning, police say, after the man shot the woman and then turned the gun on himself in Davidson... Witnesses told police that Jeremy A. Hester, 31, drove to the home of his ex-wife, Erin Marie Cobb, 28, and they began arguing inside. Moments after the pair walked outside, multiple gunshots were fired... Around 9 a.m., police said Cobb had undergone surgery and was in critical but stable condition. Hester remained in critical condition. Hester was hired as a Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officer in May 2007 but resigned in March 2010 "to pursue other employment opportunities," according to police. His last assignment with CMPD was as a patrol officer in the department's Metro Division. IT'S UNCLEAR WHETHER HE STILL WORKS IN LAW ENFORCEMENT... [Full article here]

FORMER POLICE OFFICER SHOOTS EX-WIFE, SELF IN EAST DAVIDSON
DavidsonNews.net
David Boraks
Posted on 24 September 2011.
[Excerpts] A former Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police officer shot his ex-wife and himself early Saturday at a home east Davidson’s Runnymede neighborhood. The two people are in serious condition at Carolinas Medical Center. And Charlotte Mecklenburg Police are investigating the case, which they say involved a family dispute... Just after 9 a.m., CMPD identified the victim as Erin Marie Cobb, 28. The man was identified as Jeremy A. Hester, 31, a former Metro Division officer with the police department... Ms. Cobb was hospitalized in stable/critical condition this morning, after surgery. Mr. Hester was hospitalized in critical condition... Officers with the Davidson, NC, Police Department responded to an ADW-With Injury call... Based upon initial statements of witnesses at the scene, the male subject drove to his ex-wife’s house on Callaway Hills Lane and they got into an argument inside the residence. Witnesses state that moments after they went outside, multiple gunshots were fired... Crime Scene Search responded to the call for service to process the scene and collect physical evidence... [Full article here]

"Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call 704-432-TIPS and speak directly to a Homicide Unit Detective. Detective Osorio is the lead detective assigned to the case. In addition, you may also call Crime Stoppers at 704-334-1600. For additional information, reference CMPD complaint number 2011-0924-020201."

Friday, September 23, 2011

Barbara Sheehan's murder trial started last week in the State Supreme Court, Queens NY. She's accused of shooting to death her husband Raymond Sheehan, a retired New York City police evidence unit sergeant, after years of abuse.

The abuse can't be denied. Their children, relatives, friends, neighbors, and fellow church members attest to a battered Barbara. A New York Times reporter observed yesterday,

"Still, for all [Prosecutor Debra] Pomodore’s efforts, by Thursday there would be no more than a few people in the courtroom who did not believe that the dead father had been a man of ungoverned furies."

The question for the jury will come down to whether they believe Barbara felt there was an immediate threat to her life.

VIDEO: "IF SHE DOESN'T WALK, THERE IS NO JUSTICE."Lionel (Michael William Lebron) is a former Hillsborough County Florida State Attorney's Office prosecutor and afterwards, a criminal defense trial lawyer. His opinion on the Barbara Sheehan trial.

TRANSCRIBED EXCERPTS FROM ABOVE VIDEO:

"If this woman does not walk, completely not guilty, then there's no order in the world, no God, there's no rationale. If ever there was a case that called out for "not guilty" ... this is the one. This case is text book in terms of the horrors that this woman has undergone...

When she sees her husband react in a certain way, to the lay person it may seem like "What's the big deal?" But to HER, she says, "I know what to expect. I've been going through this for 20-something years." NEXT, when the CHILDREN of the "victim" are in support of the assailant, or "murderer" technically, this is a WASH. This tells the judge, this tells the jury, this tells everybody, nobody's really going to be complaining on this one...

The behavior of this man, and he IS on trial, let's make sure we understand this. Normally victims are NOT, but his behavior is on trial only to the extent that it shows why she RECOGNIZED this behavior. Normally this would be irrelevant, it would be kept out, it would be inadmissable. Not in THIS case. This is textbook. If she doesn't walk, there IS no justice....

I would say, and I think what the defense attorney is so astutely doing is he's saying is, "You know, it's very easy for us to sit back in our nice cushy chair and say 'You know the way I would react is..." That's easy. Take this woman who has been traumatized... who LIVED through this, who KNOWS what was going on, who was acting in FEAR of her life -her adreneline is surging. She's thinking, "Oh no - not again." That behavior could give a jury any kind of a leeway in terms of explaining why she did something...

If she doesn't walk, fffft.

I'm not going to bet anything but trust me, put your money on her."

OFFICER-INVOLVED DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IS DIFFERENT.

The case is being argued on a battered-woman defense. I'd feel more sure of a fairest-possible trial if there was also an expert in officer-involved domestic violence testifying too.

From what's been presented it appears that Barbara was tormented full bad-cop style - being told that she could not call the police like most other victims can, threatened at home with gruesome crime scene photos like most victims aren't, her life repeatedly threatened by a tactically trained police evidence specialist who was literally always armed with killing force - knives or firearms. The general population has no idea how different that world can be, and either does the jury unless someone were to tell them.

Barbara's world. Beatings, threats, and emotional cruelty for years at the hands of a cop-husband practiced at intimidating even the biggest of bad guys, assured that her exits were blocked because of his job. Unable to protect her children from the chill. A ring of fire no-exit life full of special horrors and powers that the regular batterer does not possess.

The support that has shown up at the courthouse everyday for Barbara - and in behalf of all domestic violence victims - is strong.

Let whatever is true, prevail.

I am praying.

EXCERPTS FROM ARTICLES:

BARBARA SHEEHAN, WHO KILLED FORMER NYPD HUSBAND VIA 11 BULLETS, WILL PRESENT BATTERED WIFE DEFENSENew York Daily NewsBy Thomas ZambitoThursday, September 8th 2011, 8:30 PM[Excerpts] ..."She was defending herself on the morning of Feb. 18, 2008," said Sheehan's lawyer, Michael Dowd. But during jury selection, Queens prosecutor Debra Pomodore bristled at suggestions that this was a domestic violence case... [Barbara] Sheehan, 50, and her two children are expected to testify about decades of physical abuse inflicted on her by former NYPD Sgt. Raymond Sheehan during a 24-year marriage... Sheehan says her husband bloodied her nose the day before the slaying when she refused to accompany him on a Florida vacation. While in a hospital emergency room, Sheehan claims she received a threatening phone call from her husband promising to track down her father and "go down in glory" if she called the cops... [Full article here]

MURDER TRIAL BEGINS FOR WOMAN ACCUSED OF KILLING HUSBAND, RETIRED NYC POLICE SERGEANTcbslocal.comSeptember 9, 2011 1:28 PM[Excerpts] The murder trial for a woman accused of shooting and killing her husband, a retired New York City police sergeant, began Friday in State Supreme Court in Queens. The jury was told by both sides that Barbara Sheehan did kill her husband Raymond at their Howard Beach home on Feb. 18, 2008 by using two different guns, including his own weapon. While the prosecution described the killing as an execution, defense attorney Michael Dowd, called it self defense. “That morning, he actually pointed the automatic at her and said he was going to kill her,” Dowd said. He claims the former police sergeant had beaten his wife for years, and she had repeatedly intervened to keep him from hurting their two children... “If I didn’t do it, I know it would have happened the other way,” she told D’Auria in March 2008. ”If I could go back, I would take it back and try to do something differently”... Sheehan was surrounded in court by two dozen relatives and friends who wore purple ribbons against domestic violence... [Full article here]

BARBARA SHEEHAN'S LAWYER: CLIENT SHOT NYPD COP HUSBAND DEAD IN SELF DEFENSE AS HE REACHED FOR GUNnydailynews.comBy Thomas ZambitoSeptember 10th 2011[Excerpts] ...Defense lawyer Michael Dowd's opening statement marked the first public claim that Raymond Sheehan, 49, was armed and threatening his wife, Barbara, when she shot him to death on the morning of Feb. 18, 2008... Beset by a marriage that had devolved into "misery and fear," Barbara Sheehan was carrying her husband's loaded service revolver when she tried to slip out of the house following a raucous argument, Dowd said... The shooting was the culmination of nearly two decades of physical and emotional abuse that Barbara Sheehan, 50, says she suffered at the hands of a husband who had grown increasingly violent and paranoid... "It was a life of misery and fear," Dowd said of his client's marital situation immediately prior to the killing. Sheehan sat at the defense table weeping as Dowd recalled the details of brutal beatings her husband allegedly gave her in front of their two children. In the audience, Barbara Sheehan's friends and family wore purple ribbons in a show of support for her claim that she was the victim of domestic violence... Instead of dialing 911 after the slaying, Barbara Sheehan called a sister who lived nearby. When a UPS driver rushed to the scene amid the commotion, Sheehan had the two guns at her side, Pomodore said. "He's dead," she told the UPS driver, the prosecutor said. "I killed him. He's upstairs." [Full article here]

MATTER OF WIFE & DEATH: Abuse defense in hubby gundownNew York PostBy Christina CarregaSeptember 10, 2011[Excerpts] ...Barbara Sheehan, 50, suffered years of brutal abuse at the hands of her husband, Raymond, and she only shot him after he first pulled a gun on her inside their Howard Beach home, lawyer Michael Dowd said in Queens Supreme Cour... According to prosecutors, Sheehan murdered her defenseless husband -- shooting him with two guns as he shaved on the morning of Feb. 18, 2008 in the bathroom of their home... [Full article here]

'I KILLED HIM': FORMER MARINE TESTIFIES WOMAN CONFESSED TO GUNNING DOWN COP HUSBANDNYDailyNews.comBy Thomas ZambitoMonday, September 12th 2011, 8:23 PM[Excerpts] An ex-Marine turned UPS driver recalled for jurors Monday the dramatic moments he came face-to-face with a Queens school secretary who'd just gunned down her cop husband. "Drop the guns!," William Shulken said he shouted to Barbara Sheehan. Shulken had been out on a delivery the morning of Feb. 18, 2008 when he heard two women scream "She needs help!"... The Gulf War vet's first instinct was to get hold of the guns before someone else got killed... After Sheehan dropped a 9-mm. Glock and a .38-caliber revolver that belonged to Raymond Sheehan, 49 -- Shulken stood on the two guns and waited for cops. Sheehan, meanwhile, fell to her knees in the foyer. Inside, Sheehan's mother and sister tended to Sheehan and appeared to be speaking to someone on the phone, Shulken testified. Shulken grabbed the phone and dialed 911... [Full article here]

MURDER TRIAL HINGES ON QUESTIONS OF DOMESTIC ABUSENew York TimesBy Dan BilefskySeptember 18, 2011[Excerpts] She stood outside the courthouse, emotionally spent but resolute, on trial for killing her husband ... “He would have killed me,” Barbara Sheehan said outside the State Supreme Court building in Queens. “I am being made the victim twice”... Her lawyer said that her two grown children would back her up and testify in court this week about Mr. Sheehan’s relentless abuse... The case has generated national attention, and legal experts consider it a test of the so-called battered-woman defense. With this strategy, the history of an abused woman accused of assault or homicide is examined to help explain her mental state and to account for the emotional paralysis that prompts some victims of abuse to remain with their abusers. New York State’s self-defense law justifies the use of lethal force in response to an immediate threat to life... Ms. Sheehan, during a tearful 2009 appearance on “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” declared that her marriage had been abusive. She has since become something of a symbol for battered women, and many of her supporters in court wore purple ribbons in solidarity with victims of domestic violence. Ms. Sheehan, 50, who is free on $1 million bail, said her husband had routinely taunted her that he could kill her and cover it up with impunity because of the investigative skills he had acquired as a crime-scene officer... Ms. Sheehan, a churchgoing mother of two who wears sober gray suits, has cut a striking figure during the trial. Sometimes she can be seen stoically scribbling notes during witness testimony; other times she sobs openly and clasps her hands as if in prayer... Ms. Sheehan’s family said she often appeared anxious and would show up at family events heavily made up to cover up bruises and black eyes. Mr. Sheehan would also demand that his wife show him cash register receipts from her trips to the store, so that he could monitor the timing of her every move, Anne Calise, Ms. Sheehan’s cousin, said. “We always thought she was the one we would find dead”... Prosecutors typically reject the battered-woman defense by arguing that a person in Ms. Sheehan’s position had the opportunity to seek help... [Full article here]

BARBARA SHEEHAN, HOWARD BEACH WOMAN WHO SHOT POLICE LT. HUBBY, TESTIFIES: Says She Suffered Years Of Emotional, Physical Abuse At Hands Of Her Spousecbslocal.comSeptember 19, 2011[Excerpts]... With her daughter by her side, Barbara Sheehan walked into the State Supreme Court building in Kew Gardens and told reporters, “I feel fine, gonna tell the truth today”... In court Monday, wringing her hands and at times crying, Sheehan nervously described years of physical, emotional and sexual abuse she said she endured at the hand of her husband... Sheehan: “I could see in his eyes. He was going to kill me. He was going to kill me. I shot the gun ’cause I was afraid he was gonna get up and he was going to kill me. I stopped firing when I didn’t feel threatened by him any longer. He’d hold a gun to my head, he said he’d kill me, kill my children and go down in glory,” Sheehan said... Her 25-year-old daughter is also expected to testify. “I’m fully behind my mom and we’re just going to tell the truth,” Jennifer Sheehan said... Wearing purple ribbons, family and friends have shown up to court daily in support of the woman who they said was only trying to protect herself. [Full article here]

QUEENS WOMAN TESTIFIES SHE KILLED HER HUSBAND IN SELF-DEFENSENew York TimesDan BilefskySeptember 19, 2011[Excerpts] ...“He said he was going to kill me, that he was going to go down in glory,” said the secretary, Barbara Sheehan... “You could see it in his eyes — his eyes were glazed over, there was no emotion, they were blank. I knew he was going to kill me right then”... Ms. Sheehan told the jury that on the day of the shooting, in February 2008, she took the loaded revolver that belonged to her husband from a bedroom, shoved money into her bra and tried to sneak out of the house after a fierce argument over the planned trip to Florida. “I was so scared; I wanted to get away,” she said. “I didn’t want him to hurt me or my kids anymore”... But during cross examination, the prosecutor, Debra Pomodore, portrayed Ms. Sheehan as a cold-blooded executioner, asking how it was that Ms. Sheehan, who is free on $1 million in bail, continued to live in the Howard Beach home where she had shot Mr. Sheehan 11 times... She said Mr. Sheehan, a former police sergeant who had been a crime scene investigator, had routinely shown her gruesome photographs of dead bodies, warning her that her fate would be the same if she reported her abuse to police. She said he taunted her about trying to call the police, saying he was the police... Initially, she said, he would hit her in places like her back and legs so that the bruises would not be publicly visible. After a few years, she said, he stopped trying to conceal the abuse and would punch her in the face and berate her in public. She recalled how, during a vacation to Jamaica in August 2007, he smashed her head against a cinder-block wall; she said her head had bled so badly that she had to seek medical attention. On another vacation, to Lake George in 2002, she said, he gave her two black eyes after she urged him to hurry when he was late for a dinner. [Full article here]

PROSECUTOR HONES IN ON SEX LIFE DURING HOUSEWIFE'S MURDER TRIAL: Barbara Sheehan shot and killed her husband Ray, claiming self-defense; people who know the couple support her and her storywpix.comBy KIRSTIN COLE and JAMES FORDSeptember 21, 2011[Excerpts] The murder trial of 50-year-old Barbara Sheehan heated up Tuesday as the prosecutor hammered away at the Howard Beach mother of two, trying to chip away at her credibility. Subjects from guns and violence to dirty laundry and kinky sex were covered in the wide ranging testimony... Tuesday, the prosecutor delved into Sheehan's sex life... "It's no secret that Raymond ran around in diapers saying 'mommy' and that he was doing stuff with transvestites and transsexuals. But it is despicable for the Prosecutor to ask my client if she participated, when she knows full well she didn't. You have to draw the line somewhere," said Sheehan's attorney Michael Dowd. Sheehan was surrounded by three dozen supporters--family, friends and neighbors--mostly wearing purple ribbons and clothing, showing their solidarity for the cause of domestic violence... "All of our kids grew up together," family friend Dominic Dileo said. "I coached with Ray... It's a tough situation,... You don't want no one to be killed, but you don't want no one abused, either." Neighbors who spoke to PIX11 were all supportive of Barbara. "At the parish, I would see her with bruises, a broken arm, broken noses. How many times can you fall?" a parishioner told PIX11 News...... If you or someone you know is a victim of domestic violence, you can call New York City's 24-hour Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-621-HOPE (4673).... [Full article here] [cr]

WOMAN SHOT HER HUSBAND IN HATRED, PROSECUTOR SAYSNew York TimesBy Dan BilefskyPublished: September 20, 2011[Excerpts] Prosecutors sought on Tuesday to portray Barbara Sheehan, the Queens woman accused of killing her husband, as having been a deeply unhappy wife who resented her sexless marriage and now was grossly exaggerating what she has called decades of physical abuse... Debra Pomodore, worked to build a case that Ms. Sheehan had shot her husband 11 times in their home simply because she despised him... She said Ms. Sheehan had admitted she was clumsy and accident-prone, suggesting that some of her injuries may have been self-inflicted... Pointing to a series of inconsistencies in Ms. Sheehan’s testimony, the prosecutor said she had never reported the abuse to the police. She also cited a Dec. 20, 2007, phone call to a domestic violence hot line following a heated argument at a family event. In the call, Ms. Pomodore contended, Ms. Sheehan said that there had been no physical abuse in her relationship with her husband... Legal experts consider the case a test of the so-called battered-woman defense. With this strategy, the defendant’s lawyer seeks to play up a history as a victim of abuse to help explain the emotional paralysis that prompts some victims to stay with their abusers. New York State’s self-defense law justifies the use of lethal force in response to an immediate threat to life... “Did you hate him?” the prosecutor asked. “No,” Ms. Sheehan said, “I feared him.” [Full article here]

ANTI-DOMESTIC VIOLENCE GROUPS RALLY AROUND MURDER DEFENDANT: Barbara Sheehan claims her 2008 murder of her husband was in self defense; dozens sporting purple support her in courtWPIX-TVJames FordSeptember 21, 2011[Excerpts] Barbara Sheehan, the mother of two who is on trial for killing her retired cop husband, has developed a legion of supporters in and out of the courtroom who are united in a cause and a color. A variety of domestic violence advocacy groups learned about Sheehan's case shortly after it opened three years ago, and have rallied behind her claim of self defense. In the Queens Supreme Court courtroom, about half of the full-to-capacity seating is occupied by people wearing purple. It's the color anti-domestic violence groups have adopted to represent their cause... "To let the public, the judge, the jury, the prosecutor know there's a lot of support for victims of domestic violence," Josie White, an advocate from the organization STEPS To End Family Violence, said about why people are at the trial showing their colors... Even she was impressed by the daily turnout of Sheehan family members, friends and neighbors who come to court every day sporting purple ribbons, scarves, neckties, blouses -- even purple fingernails... And it's not just people who know Barbara Sheehan who are in the courtroom. "I'm from Northern California," Tanya Brannan said in an interview. The Santa Rosa attorney is writing and filming a documentary about police officers who abuse their wives and family. Brannan and a fellow producer from Philadelphia alternate days attending trial. Wearing a knit purple ribbon on her shirt pocket, Brannan, an attorney, said that she has attended trials wearing purple for years. "To.. stand with those women and to let them know you're not alone, I believe you and you're not alone"... Also in court daily is murder victim Ray Sheehan's twin brother, Vincent, and other relatives of the gunned down ex-cop... [Full article here]

BARBARA SHEEHAN, ACCUSED OF KILLING EX-COP HUSBAND, BREAKS DOWN ON STAND WHEN FORCED TO HOLD GUNNew York Daily NewsBy Thomas ZambitoSeptember 21st 2011[Excerpts] ...Barbara Sheehan broke into tears on the witness stand as she squared off with a prosecutor who repeatedly requested she pick up the weapon and demonstrate how she killed her spouse in February 2008... Sheehan admitted later that after the insurance money was paid, her son Raymond gave her a $200,000 check to satisfy a home equity loan. And her daughter Jennifer paid her more than $100,000 to pay off other debts. "That's what my children chose to do with it," Sheehan testified. At one point, Pomodore also played a 911 call made by Sheehan's sister moments after Raymond Sheehan was slain while shaving in the upstairs bathroom of the couple's Howard Beach home. In the background of the call, Sheehan cries hysterically, shouting, "He was laughing at me!" She then makes the sound of a gun going off. "That's not my voice," Sheehan interjected from the witness stand, shaking her head no. [Full article here]

IN MOTHER’S TRIAL, MAN TELLS OF HIS FATHER’S RAGENew York TimesBy Dan BilefskySeptember 21, 2011[Excerpts] The 21-year-old son of a Queens mother on trial for killing her husband described his father in court on Wednesday as a terrifying and volatile man who had threatened to kill him, his sister and his mother, and whose abuse of his mother ranged from belittling her to pounding her head with his fists. The son, Raymond Sheehan, a physiologist who works with autistic children at a kindergarten in Brooklyn, recounted how his father, a former police sergeant, would explode into sudden rages, calling Raymond’s mother, Barbara Sheehan, “stupid,” “fat” and “worthless,” punching her in the face and threatening the whole family with death if they reported his actions to friends or the police. “He would beat her, slap her, punch her, kick her, spit on her, throw things at her, tackle her,” Mr. Sheehan said during an hour of emotional but resolute testimony after which he broke down in tears... Legal experts said the testimony of her children, Raymond and Jennifer, 25, a nurse, would be crucial in determining whether the jury would regard her as credible... Mr. Sheehan described the Sheehan residence, in Howard Beach, as a place where his father ruled with an iron will, exploding angrily when Barbara Sheehan did seemingly innocuous things like moving a book in the living room. He said his father would confiscate his mother’s keys and cellphone when he left the house... Mr. Sheehan’s testimony came after the prosecutor, Debra Pomodore, asked Ms. Sheehan to re-enact the shooting by picking up one of the weapons she had used. On the witness stand, Ms. Sheehan sobbed loudly and clutched her chest... [Full article here]

MURDERED FATHER CALLED ABUSIVE FETISHIST WHO LIKED TRANSVESTITE PROSTITUTES, BABY-PLAY: His wife Barbara is on trial for the ex-cop's killing, but his children and friends paint an unflattering picture of himwpix.com, PIX11James FordSeptember 22, 2011[Excerpts] — Barbara Sheehan is on trial for killing her ex-cop husband Raymond, but just who was the retired NYPD evidence sergeant? When his children testified this week in their mother's defense, the picture they painted of him was by no means flattering. Comments from other people who knew him fill in a background of threatening behavior. "I'm just glad that it's over, and they're free now," said the best friend of Barbara and Ray Sheehan's daughter Jennifer... Other people who know the family were reluctant to be quoted, but some family friends said on background that after the Sheehans' second child, Raymond Jr., was born in 1990, the husband changed for the worst, and that's when physical, emotional and psychological abuse of his wife and children began... "She'd have broken arms, broken noses, bruises. How many times can you break something?" the woman [a parishioner at their church], who would not give her name, asked... [Full article here]

SON TESTIFIES: MOM KILLED DAD BECAUSE SHE WAS ABUSEDNBC New YorkBy John NoelThursday, Sep 22, 2011The son of a Queens woman who shot her husband to death in their home testified at her trial Thursday that the family endured years of abuse from him. "My mom was abused my entire life, and my father tortured her," Raymond Sheehan told NBC New York outside court. "She protected her own life in doing what she did"... Prosecutors introduced a letter the younger man had written when he was about 14 years old that told of his rage at his father, touched off because he believed his dad was having an affair... Sheehan was shocked when Assistant District Attorney Debra Pomodore handed him the document. He read the first line aloud, then put his head in his hands and wept, his lanky shoulders shaking, and could not continue reading. Pomodore asked about the father's behavior outside of the home, and Sheehan said he was gregarious and outgoing and kind — until they were alone. "He acted like the perfect father, but when we got in the car, he was always berating me," he said... His 25-year-old sister, Jennifer Joyce, also testified Thursday and echoed her brother's testimony of abuse and countless instances of her father hitting her mother. Joyce, recently married, now lives in San Diego and works as a nurse. "He would go into these periods where he would have a blank stare," she said of her father. "He was totally out of control"... [Full article here]

SON OF WOMAN ACCUSED OF HUSBAND'S MURDER TELLS JURY HE WANTED HIS FATHER DEADNew York PostBy Christina Carregaeptember 22, 2011[Excerpts] Years before a Queens woman shot and killed her allegedly abusive husband, their son had secretly wished his dad dead for treating her so badly, the young man said in court today. Raymond Sheehan told jurors at his mother’s murder trial that he was upset after discovering that his father, who is also named Raymond, may have been cheating on Barbara Sheehan. Young Raymond was so upset that he typed an email filled with F-bombs that cursed out his father for being unfaithful. Raymond saved the email as a draft in May 2004, but never sent it.. With his defendant mother looking on, the 21-year-old wept as a prosecutor read from the email, which ends with his prophetic wish: ”I hope he f---ing dies"... "He acted like the perfect father, but when we got in the car, he was always berating me," he said... Pomodore also shared pictures of seemingly happier times... [Full article here]

SON OF BARBARA SHEEHAN, WOMAN WHO KILLED HUSBAND, SAYS HE FEARED HIS FATHERCBS New YorkSeptember 22, 2011 1:53 PM[Excerpts] Testimony continued Thursday in the trial of a Queens woman accused of killing her ex-cop husband... Raymond Sheehan, 21, says he went to school hours away because he needed to leave the tense home... On Wednesday, he testified his father had always treated his mother badly and that he too lived in fear of his father’s rages. When asked by prosecutors on Thursday why he went to college in Connecticut if he was so worried about his mother’s safety, the 21-year-old said it was because he felt he would kill himself if he lived at home. He said guns were a constant presence in the house and that his father would take his Glock handgun into the bathroom with him, where Barbara Sheehan testified she killed her husband... “She was always very nervous, very jumpy and jittery,” he said of his mother. “You never wanted to set him off. … Anything would set him off.” Prosecutors sought to show that on the day of the shooting on Feb. 18, 2008, Sheehan was not fearful for her life. She proofed her son’s school paper, drank coffee and made travel arrangements for a trip to Florida... He dragged her out of bed the morning of the shooting and threw her out of the house in her pajamas, saying she couldn’t come back until she agreed to go with him, she testified. She stood outside for nearly an hour in the winter cold before agreeing to come... Prosecutors asked repeatedly whether Sheehan ever called 911 or a domestic violence hotline in the hours leading to the shooting. The answer was always no... Sheehan’s daughter Jennifer, 25, has also said their father was abusive... [Full article here]

RECALLING A CRUEL FATHER, AND DEFENDING THE WOMAN WHO KILLED HIMThe New York TimesBy Jim DwyerSeptember 22, 2011[Excerpts] The question was not quite a taunt, but kind of an eyebrow hoisted noisily, theatrically and tactically in a Queens courtroom. “Now,” said Debra Pomodore, a senior prosecutor, “you were saying you were afraid for your mother, is that what you said?” “Yes,” said Raymond Sheehan, 21, a thin cello of a man, whose every note of testimony sounded clear, mournful and resonant... Their son, Raymond, and daughter, Jennifer Joyce, both testified that the father’s chronic rages and beatings of their mother had turned their home into a house of Gothic horror... Four days into the defense case, the prosecutor has held fast to a vision of family dynamics in which the dead man really wasn’t all that scary and awful... Still, for all Ms. Pomodore’s efforts, by Thursday there would be no more than a few people in the courtroom who did not believe that the dead father had been a man of ungoverned furies. A family friend who had always thought Ray Sheehan was a “really good guy” recalled that on a vacation in Jamaica, the Sheehans showed up a half-hour late for dinner. “She had a towel full of blood on her head, that’s what I saw,” said Ron Ferrara, a retired sanitation worker. “Ray said she slipped and fell in the bathroom. Ray did all the talking.” Couldn’t it have been a little cut that just bled profusely, the prosecutor asked. “I couldn’t say a little cut would have did it,” Mr. Ferrara said. Betsy Torres, who worked alongside Ms. Sheehan in the office of a public school, testified that less than an hour before the shooting, Ms. Sheehan came to her house and said over and over “that she was scared and he was going to kill her”... Ms. Joyce, 25, a chemotherapy nurse in San Diego, said her earliest memory was of being in bed at age 4, shaking, as she listened to her father rage at her mother, slamming her into walls... [Full article here]

I WANTED DAD &#$%ING DEAD: Son confronted with raging e-mail at Sheehan trialNew York PostBy Christina CarregaSeptember 23, 2011[Excerpts] ...Sheehan’s son [Raymond] testified that he went away to college in Connecticut because life at home was unbearable. His dad berated him mercilessly and said he’d amount to nothing - like his mother, the son testified. “Toward the end of high school, I seriously had thoughts about suicide,” Sheehan said. “I couldn’t live with my father any longer. I was afraid I’d act on it.” Pomodore, meanwhile, showed jurors pictures of seemingly happy times in the Sheehan family, including photos from Raymond’s prom and a picture of his parents holding hands. The defendant’s daughter, Jennifer Joyce, 25, ended the day’s testimony by recounting abuse she said she witnessed as far back as 20 years ago. “He’d tell her he was going to kill her all the time, at least once a week,” Joyce said. “We never knew what the right thing was to do in the house. Anything would set him off.” [Full article here]

MOST DETAILED ACCOUNT SO FAR OF BARBARA'S TESTIMONY OF WHAT HAPPENED THE DAY OF THE SHOOTING IS HERE:

BETWEEN SOBS, A STORY ABOUT KILLING HUSBAND: Barbara Sheehan testifies about the shooting and years of alleged abuseQueens Chronicleby Anna Gustafson, EditorThursday, September 22, 2011 12:00 pmUpdated: 2:35 pm, Thu Sep 22, 2011.

Her hands clasped as if in prayer, Barbara Sheehan looked out at a courtroom that had been transformed into a sea of purple worn by family and friends — the color representing domestic violence awareness —and began to sob, her shoulders heaving as the Howard Beach woman spoke about the morning she shot her husband, Raymond Sheehan, 11 times.

It was cold that day, Feb. 18, 2008, with a mist of rain coating the world outside the Sheehans’ home, where the couple had lived for much of their 24-year marriage, Sheehan testified during her trial at the Queens Supreme courthouse in Kew Gardens on Monday. Inside this house, Barbara Sheehan said she was trying to figure out how to escape from her husband, a retired NYPD sergeant, whom she believed was planning to soon kill her after two decades of alleged abuse that she testified included punching her in the face, smashing her head into cinder blocks while on vacation, dumping boiling marinara sauce on her and threatening to kill her children and other members of her family if she ever told anyone what was going on.

That February morning, Barbara Sheehan said she told her husband she would not accompany him on a planned vacation to Florida because she feared for her life. Allegedly enraged, Raymond Sheehan kicked his wife out of the house in her pajamas and told her she could not come back in until she decided to fly later that day with him to Florida, she said during her nearly six hours of testimony on Monday.

“I was out there for 45 minutes, an hour,” Sheehan said. “I was wet and cold and he kept screaming that if I didn’t go to Florida, I couldn’t come in. So I finally said I’d go to Florida.”

Upon entering the home where Barbara Sheehan, 50, raised two children, Jennifer, 25, and Raymond Jr., 21, she said her husband put a gun to her head and forced her to change their reservations so their return flight was from Fort Meyers instead of West Palm Beach —where her family lived.

“He put his gun to my head and said if I didn’t call, he was gonna kill me,” Sheehan said.

After she changed the reservation, Raymond Sheehan went into the bathroom, one of his guns in tow, Barbara Sheehan said.

“I told him I had to get dog food,” Sheehan said. “… I asked him to open the door, and he had a gun in his hand, and he said, ‘You’re not going anywhere.’ I could see his eyes, and they were just glazed over. There was nothing in them. They were just blank, and it was so scary. I knew he was going to kill me.”

After her husband pointed the gun at her, Barbara Sheehan said she ran into the bedroom to grab the money she had been saving in order to leave her husband and saw another of his guns, a .38-caliber revolver, there. She said she picked it up because she believed her husband might not shoot her if she also was armed.

“As I got to the bathroom door, he picked up the gun again and aimed it at my head and said he was going to kill me,” Sheehan said. “I shot the gun … He kept screaming, ‘I’m gonna f-ing kill you,’ and he was reaching for the gun.”

Saying she did not know how many times she had fired, Sheehan said she stopped shooting “when I didn’t feel threatened by him anymore.”

Barbara Sheehan shot her husband 11 times — five times with the revolver and six more with his Glock.

She said she didn’t want to kill him but “just wanted him to stop, to not kill me.”

First questioned by her attorney, Michael Dowd, and then by Assistant District Attorney Debra Pomodore, who is prosecuting the case, Sheehan testified about a marriage that she said was characterized by years of fear, of a husband whom she met when she was 17 years old and who, after the birth of their son in 1990, she said would threaten to kill her children and her family members, many of whom lived within several blocks of their Howard Beach home, if she ever mentioned the alleged abuse.

He was a man, she said, who would splash boiling marinara sauce on her after deciding he didn’t want to eat what she had prepared for dinner, shove her to the ground and step on her, and make her watch him as he dressed up in women’s underwear, skirts and tights.

“He’d bring pictures home of difference crime scenes, of bodies, and he’d say that’s what I would look like if I told anybody,” Sheehan told the jurors.

While on vacation in 2007 with their son and friends, Barbara Sheehan said her husband smashed her head against the wall after he became irate that she had woken him up to go to dinner.

“He chased me down when I was trying to leave the room,” Sheehan said. “He beat me in the room. He grabbbed the back of my hair… and kept beating my head on the cinder block walls of the hotel room. He cut my head open. I was bleeding all over.”

Raymond Sheehan then told those he was with that his wife had “slipped and fell in the shower,” she testified.

When Pomodore, the prosecutor, began to question Sheehan on Monday, she emphasized that the Howard Beach resident had numerous family members and friends living close to her and then went on to say that Raymond Sheehan had “always helped financially,” including to purchase Barbara Sheehan presents, to fund vacations and to put their two children through private school.

“He provided health insurance for you and your children,” Pomodore said. “You had a very lovely home up until you shot and killed her your husband.”

Pomodore went on to describe Raymond Sheehan as a family man who rarely missed a game of football that his son would play while the quarterback at St. Francis Prep in Fresh Meadows.

The ADA noted Sheehan had coached his son in several sports, including baseball and hockey.

When Pomodore asked if Sheehan had often gone to his daughter’s cheerleading events, Barbara Sheehan said he had gone to only one of her games.

Both of her children have appeared in court with Barbara Sheehan since she was arrested. Her daughter told The New York Times that she went to her father’s funeral because she “just wanted to see for myself that he was dead.” [LINK][police officer involved domestic violence oidv intimate partner violence ipv abuse law enforcement public safety lethal fatality fatalities new yokr state politics self defense]